Reporting against employment instructions
The NT Public Sector Employment and Management Act 1993 (the Act) requires performance to be reported against each Employment Instruction.
| Employment instruction – number and description | 2018-19 |
|---|---|
1. Filling vacancies Chief Executive Officers must develop a procedure to fill vacancies consistent with the Act, its subordinate legislation and any relevant award or enterprise agreement. Subsection 28(2)(c) of the Act requires the Chief Executive Officer to report annually on the number of employees of each designation and any variations in numbers since the last report. |
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2. Probation Chief Executive Officers must develop a probation procedure consistent with the Act, its subordinate legislation and any relevant award or enterprise agreement. | The department’s online induction system provides information on probation procedures. The probation procedure is available on the intranet under the Managers toolkit. Directors are also reminded when probation reports are due. |
3. Natural justice The principles of natural justice are to be observed in all dealings with employees. | The principles of natural justice are considered to be fundamental in all dealings with employees and reflected in communications, consultation processes and internal policies and procedures. A person who may be adversely affected by a decision must be afforded natural justice before a final decision is made. |
4. Employee performance management and development systems Chief Executive Officers must develop and implement an employee performance management and development procedure consistent with the Act, its subordinate legislation and any relevant award or enterprise agreement. | The department’s personal development review (PDR) system is consistent with the Act. As at 30 June 2019, 36 per cent of employees were recorded as having PDR discussions in the previous 12 months. A priority for 2019-20 is to increase the completion rate. |
5. Medical examinations Chief Executive Officers may engage a health practitioner in accordance with the Act and Employment Instruction Number 3. | In 2017-18, three employees were required to attend an examination by an approved medical health practitioner. |
6. Employee performance and inability Chief Executive Officers may develop employee performance and inability procedures consistent with the Act, its subordinate legislation and any relevant or enterprise agreement. Subsection 18(2) of the Act requires the Commissioner to report annually on the extent to which the inability procedures have been invoked in the public sector. | Required information has been provided to the Commissioner for Public Employment. Performance management is an ongoing process. Human Resources Branch (HR) staff provide advisory services to managers and other employees to assist in resolution of any performance management issues. The department dealt with one performance management case in 2018-19. |
7. Discipline Chief Executive Officers may develop discipline procedures consistent with the Act, its subordinate legislation and any relevant award or enterprise agreement. Subsection 18(2) of the Act requires the Commissioner to report annually on the extent to which the inability procedures have been invoked in the public sector. Chief Executive Officers shall provide the information necessary for the Commissioner to comply with the reporting requirement. | Required information has been provided to the Commissioner for Public Employment. During 2018-19, the department had two discipline matters, which have been finalised. |
8. Internal agency complaints and Section 59 Review of grievances The department must develop an internal employee grievance-handling policy and procedure consistent with the Act, its subordinate legislation and any relevant award or enterprise agreement. | HR provides advisory services to all employees and managers in relation to grievances and internal agency complaints. Seven internal employee complaints were lodged in 2018-19. All complaints except one (as received at the end of June 2019) were finalised. |
9. Employment records The department has responsibility for keeping employees’ employment records. The department must comply with the requirements of the Information Act 2002 regarding correction, collecting and handling of personal information contained on an employee’s employment record. | The Department of Corporate and Information Services keeps all personnel files for the department. The department keeps individual files on PDR discussions with access restricted to the individual employees and their managers. |
10. Equality of employment opportunity programs The department must develop an equality of employment opportunity program consistent with the Act, its subordinate legislation, the Anti-Discrimination Act 1992 and any relevant award or enterprise agreement. | Special measures recruitment processes were applied to relevant positions during the first six months of 2018-19. From January 2019, in accordance with the department’s special measures plan, special measures applied to all advertised positions. The department continued the early careers programs aimed at developing relevant skills, experience and qualifications of our Aboriginal employees. Details of the department’s Aboriginal employment and career development initiatives are reported under Workforce diversity in this chapter. |
11. Occupational health and safety standards and programs The department must develop programs and procedures to ensure employees are consulted in the development and implementation of WHS policies and other governance documents. The department must provide WHS information in the annual report in relation to the department’s occupational health and safety programs. | The department adheres to the Model Code of Practice for WHS Consultation. A description of WHS governance is included in Chapter 4 Corporate governance, and WHS programs are described in this chapter. |
12. Code of conduct The code of conduct stipulates the basic level of conduct expected of public sector officers as defined in the Act. The agency may issue an agency-specific code of conduct that is consistent with the Act. | The code of conduct is provided to new employees on commencement through the online induction process. This was reviewed during the year. The department does not have its own code of conduct. |
13. Appropriate workplace behaviour The department must develop an agency policy and procedure to foster appropriate workplace behaviour and a culture of respect, and to deal effectively with inappropriate workplace behaviour and bullying. | The department has appropriate workplace behaviour procedures. Four formal complaint were made in relation to inappropriate workplace behaviour this year. |
14. Redeployment and redundancy procedures Assists the department and employees in understanding their rights and obligations in a redeployment or redundancy situation. | The department provides advice to managers and employees on redeployment and redundancy procedures. No employee was declared as a redeployee during the year. One employee terminated through a redundancy. |
15. Special measures Stipulates the requirements for special measures programs, plans or arrangements. | The department continued its special measures plan approved by the Commissioner for Public Employment, which allowed Aboriginal applicants to be given consideration before other applicants for all vacancies, in line with the Indigenous Employment and Career Development Strategy 2015-20. |
ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19 - DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRY AND RESOURCES
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